Examination tables are incorporated in medical offices for supporting or positioning a patient undergoing a medical procedure or examination. Conventional examination tables include a base and a support surface mounted on the base. In order to provide a more comforting support arrangement for the patient, the support surface may include a seat portion and a backrest portion that pivots with respect to the seat portion. Thus, the support surface can be moved from a chair position where the support surface resembles a chair to an examination position where the support surface resembles a substantially flat and elevated examination table, depending upon the current needs of the patient and user.
Conventional examination tables also typically include an actuation system for moving the support surface and the backrest portion. The support surface is moved vertically by a scissor lift or another lifting mechanism incorporated into the base of the examination table. The backrest portion of the support surface may be pivoted with respect to the seat portion with a lift cylinder or another similar drive mechanism. The lifting and drive mechanisms of the actuation system are independently driven by electric motors, hydraulic motors, or other types of motors. Conventional examination tables also include a control system operatively connected to hand-operated and/or foot-operated control panels provided on the examination table. The control system receives input from the control panels and then activates the motors of the actuation system to move the support surface or the backrest portion.
The control system of conventional examination tables typically is programmed to respond only to user commands directed to moving one of the motors in a certain direction. In other words, the control panel of these conventional examination tables only includes buttons to actuate movement of the support surface in one direction or pivoting of the backrest portion in one direction. Therefore, to move between the chair position to the examination position, a user has to individually push multiple buttons on the control panel until the support surface and the backrest portion are driven to the desired location. This is an inefficient use of a user's time, especially for a medical professional.
Additionally, many conventional examination tables do not track the position of the support surface and the backrest portion in any manner. For those conventional examination tables that do track the position of the support surface and the backrest portion, potentiometer position sensors are directly coupled to the support surface and the backrest portion to detect movement and track the position of the examination table. These potentiometers must be physically calibrated to the examination table's range of motion so that the position of the examination table can be accurately determined. Furthermore, these potentiometers are unreliable over extended periods of time, thereby requiring numerous physical calibrations of the position tracking system. It would be desirable to provide an examination table that overcomes these and other deficiencies.